I wrote yesterday that Fabio Capello And FA were set for a fireworks meeting today with neither site apparently ready to concede ground over John Terry.

Well after meeting today, it became apparent that the two sides could no longer work together and the FA has announced that Fabio Capello has stepped down as England manager.

Today (Wednesday) the FA and Fabio Capello are expected to meet over the John Terry situation, and it appears that neither side is willing to concede anything to the other.

Capello will be asked by Football Association chairman David Bernstein to explain why he committed a serious breach of FA protocol in his explosive Italian television interview on Sunday.

Daneil Cyrus is not in camp with Sporting KC due to "personal reasons" and it doesn't look like he'll be joining the team soon. Word out of Trinidad (h/t The Daily Wiz) is that Cyrus will be joining the Trinidad and Tobago U-23 for a camp. The camp will be capped off by two friendlies again the full national team of Guyana.

Fabio Capello is furious at the English FA for firing his captain John Terry, and you have to begin to wonder whether Capello will still be in charge of England when this summer's Euro 2012 rolls around.

Capello was interviewed by national Italian broadcaster Rai 1 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, where he attended Chelsea's 3-3 draw with Manchester United, and he stated openly how angry he was.

The Daily Mirror is reporting that England manager Fabio Capello is said to be furious over the sacking today of his captain John Terry.

According to the report Capello fought for Terry to remain as England captain until the bitter end and only accepted the FA's decision with extreme reluctance.

For the second time, Chelsea's John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy. The English Football Association confirmed that Terry was informed of the decision by FA chairman David Bernstein in a phone call Friday morning.

Terry is due to stand trial in July over racial abuse allegations after an incident with QPR's Anton Ferdinand and there has been mounting pressure within England to remove Terry as England's captain ahead of this summer's Euro 2012 competition

The FA released a statement on their web site which read:

Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry to July, The Football Association confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations against him are resolved.

All eyes will be on the prematch handshake at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to see whether Rio Ferdinand will shake the hand of the person accused of racially abusing his brother.

Rio is said to be furious at the way the FA is standing besides John Terry despite his impending court case, while in contrast, he was banned for nine months but the FA for missing a drugs test.

Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere has confirmed he has suffered another stress fracture in is injured ankle, this time in his heel.

He had a scan after feeling pain in training last week and the midfielder revealed on Twitter today:

"I can confirm I have a stress fracture but it is not in the same area as my first injury which has healed very which I am happy about.

I highly doubt they will see Lon Cheney Jr. walking with the queen, but our USWNT have secured a ticket to the 2012 Summer Olympics following last night's 3-0 win over Costa Rica.Ah-oooooooo!USA Beats Costa Rica and Advance to Olympics - from Universal Sp - Celebrity bloopers here- Greg Seltzer

The US "Camp Cupcake" roster closed out their camp down in Panama today with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi. Like the game on Saturday against Venezuela, both Zusi and Teal Bunbury started for the United States, while CJ Sapong found himself starting on the bench. The US got a good start, as Zusi finished off a chance in the 8th minute to give the US a 1-0 lead.

Hmm. Looks like a 4-4-2 diamond for the USMNT tonight. Not especially feelin' it, still don't understand why this camp roster wasn't larger. Oh well.. enjoy the game, player ratings after at MLSS and Will plans to drop some thoughts tomorrow morning.Rimando; DeLaGarza, Parkhurst, Cameron, Loyd, Zusi, Clark, Jones, Shea, Wondolowski, Bunbury- Greg Seltzer

Last night in Arizona, the US national team topped Venezuela in the first of two friendlies for the camp cupcake roster, 1-0 thanks to a late goal by Ricardo Clark. Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury and midfielder Graham Zusi both started for the US, while forward, CJ Sapong came on as a second half sub, replacing Zusi.

Last night the US national team once again scrimmaged the US under 23 team in Carson, California. And once again for the US, Graham Zusi got a goal as the US tied 1-1 with their U-23 counterparts.
Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong were also involved in the game. Bunbury spent the first half on the field with the U23 team, as they continue to prepare for Olympic qualifying.

Last night, the US men's national team took on the US under 23 team in a scrimmage in LA. Both teams are currently involved in camps. The US team for their upcoming games against Venezuela and Panama, and the U23's as they continue to prepare for their upcoming Olympic qualifying. Three Sporting KC players appeared for the full national team last night.

H/T to The Front Men
Trinidad and Tobago has named their training squad in preparations for the Olympic qualifying coming up in March. Sporting KC defender, Daneil Cyrus has been named to the TnT squad that is currently training in Port of Spain in Trinidad. The team is preparing to be in Group B of Olympic qualifying with Honduras, Panama, and Mexico in Los Angeles which begins on March 22nd.

Time for another year of wishes for 2012. Here's a look of what I am wanting and wishing to see in 2012.
1. Silverware - Is anything else really that important? I want silverware, as Robb Heineman put it tonight on Twitter, #paintthewall. I want to add more stuff to the wall that shows our accomplishments.

Continuing on with the caps trend, here's the updated stats for caps as a member of the SKC Wizards. First is the caps that a player got while with KC, the second number is goals scored in those caps.
Josh Wolff - USA - 38 - 6
Jimmy Conrad - USA - 28 - 1
Preki - USA - 26 - 4
Roger Espinoza - Honduras - 21 - 3
Kerry Zavagnin - USA - 21 - 0
Eddie Johnson - USA - 20 - 3
Shavar Thomas - Jamaica - 19 - 0
Chris Klein - USA - 17 - 3
Gary Glasgow - Trinidad & Tobago - 16 - 1
Khari Stephenson - Jamaica - 15 - 3
Scott Sealy - Trinidad & Tobago - 14 - 1
Tony Meola - USA - 12 - 0
Craig Rocastle - Grenada - 9 - 0
Sunil Chhetri - India - 9 - 5
Stephane Auvray - Guadeloupe - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - USA - 7 - 1
Kei Kamara - Sierra Leone - 6 - 0
Nick Garcia - USA - 6 - 0
Uche Okafor - Nigeria - 6 - 0
Onandi Lowe - Jamaica - 3 - 2
Mike Sorber - USA - 3 - 0
Miklos Molnar - Denmark - 3 - 0
Teal Bunbury - USA - 2 - 1
Mark Chung - USA - 2 - 0
Jermaine Hue - Jamaica - 2 - 0
Peterson Joseph - Haiti - 1 - 0
Chris Henderson - USA - 1 - 0
Steve Pittman - USA - 1 - 0
Digital Takawira - Zimbabwe - Unknown
Unfortunately I've still been unable to find a source for Digital Takawira's caps for Zimbabwe while with Kansas City, I've tried contacting the FA and the CAF, but have struck out in both instances.

I have gone ahead and updated my list of capped Sporting KC players total. This is a list of players that have played for Kansas City and been capped by their respective national teams at any time. New signing Bobby Convey, along with Daneil Cyrus and Peterson Joseph are the only new players to join the list.

Remember back at the start of November when I wrote that the USMNT will be visiting Genoa to play Italy at the end of February?That remains so, but I've been told by an Azzurri birdie to expect that game's announcement in early January. Expect my travel menu to include items such as this...- Greg Seltzer

Three Sporting KC players have been called up by Jurgen Klinsmann for the upcoming US Men's national team camp in Phoenix and Los Angeles. Teal Bunbury returns to the US national team, having been a part of the quite a few of Klinsmann last few squads, although he's yet to make an appearance for the national team under the new manager.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Some national team news has come out today regarding two Sporting KC players. First, Teal Bunbury has been called up by Caleb Porter to the upcoming U-23 Olympic camp in Florida. The camp will take place December 15th through the 23rd. The camp is in preparation for the upcoming Olympic qualifying.

Good news for England fans today as UEFA has reduced Wayne Rooney's three match suspension has been reduced to two matches after a successful appeal by the FA.

The reduction means that Rooney , 26,will now be available for England's third Group D game, against Ukraine, but will miss the fixtures against France and Sweden.

The rumour in the British press Monday is that Fabio Capello may leave Wayne Rooney out of his Euro' 2012 squad if his three game ban isn't reduced.

I have to think this is a poor attempt at filling column inches. Either that or Capello is suffering from temporary insanity.

England managers have taken a gamble on including injured players in their squads in the past in the hope that the player will be fit for the later stages of a competition.

The U.S. U-17's in action from yesterday...- Greg Seltzer

England national team got themselves a pretty good draw in their Euro 2012 campaign, considering all the worse possibilities, being paired with Ukraine, France and Sweden obviously isn't the toughest group on paper.

This drawing result apparently gave confidence to the Union Jack's manager, Fabio Capello, who revealed that his team obviously got a pretty comfortable group on paper especially compared to Group B which consist the likes of Holland, Germany, Portugal and Denmark.

Good draw for England in the Euro 2012 as they have been drawn against Ukraine, France and Sweden. It is by now way an easy group for England, but considering who England could have been drawn against, Fabio Capello cannot be too upset.

In every tournament there is a proverbial "Group of Death" and Euro 2012 is no exception.

Shocking news today that Wales manager David Speed is dead. Speed was found dead at his home near Chester in an apparent suicide.

A spokesman for the Cheshire Police said:

"At 7.08am today, Cheshire Police was informed of a sudden death at an address in Huntington, Chester.

Guess who forgot something last night. Oh well, gives me a chance to sneak in a Champions League strike...Listen to how bored the Russian broadcast team had gotten with Real Madrid dominance by the time Gonzalo Higuain tucked home this beauty against Dinamo Zagreb last night.Traveling back to the international break, Nani lit the cannon to help Portugal punch their Euro2012 ticket against Bosnia.

UEFA has announced the seedings for the Euro 2012 draw in December with England placed in Pot 2 alongside Germany, Italy and Russia.

Republic of Ireland, who confirmed their place at the finals following a 5-1 aggregate play-off win over Estonia, are in Pot 4 and will be one of the bottom seeds when the draw is conducted in Kiev on Friday December 2.

Roger Espinoza has started the offseason fairly busy. Espinoza played yesterday for the Honduran national team as they took on Serbia in a friendly in Honduras. Espinoza started and went the full 90 minutes in Honduras' 2-0 win over their fellow World Cup 2010 qualifier. Honduras scored their first goal in the 4th minute through Georgie Welcome.

Chelsea's Frank Lampard has just received plenty applause after deciding England's victory over Spain in a friendly last weekend, something which is obviously delighting for the player which received many minor voices in this start of season.

After having a pretty tough start for both the Blues and Union Jack, Lampard can now settled down a bit and starts thinking about future target which is getting 100 caps for the national team.

It appears that two Sporting KC players will be playing this weekend. Roger Espinoza was apparently called up by Honduras for their friendly on Monday against Serbia. The call up was made before KC's season ended and I've been unable to find any updates since the initial roster was released on the 2nd of November stating whether Espinoza was still participating or not.

Filling some reader requests, once again back is the incredible...#1 - Quite wisely, Klinsi has let Landon Donovan out of the USMNT travel party.#2 - Let me just get this out of the way, so it doesn't wait until item five to annoy you with anticipation. I have some deluxe goodies of all varieties coming soon at MLSS.

Teal Bunbury will join Sporting KC goalkeeper, Jon Kempin in Germany this week for the US U23 camp. As teams have been eliminated from the MLS Cup playoffs, new U23 coach, Caleb Porter has been calling in players from those teams for the camp as well. Porter is Bunbury's old college coach at Akron.

Sporting KC home grown goalkeeper, Jon Kempin will be leaving the team shortly after the Eastern Conference final for a trip to Germany. Kempin has been called up to the US U-23 team for a camp that will take place in Germany from the 7th through the 16th. US coach Caleb Porter's roster includes 2 other keepers from MLS, David Bingham of San Jose and Sean Johnson from Chicago, and Cody Cropper of Ipswich Town.

While Sporting KC was busy qualifying for the playoffs, another Sporting KC player was busy with his national team trying to keep their World Cup qualifying hopes alive. Craig Rocastle and Grenada were playing St. Vincent and Grenadines in a must win game for both countries to keep alive in Group E.

England striker Wayne Rooney will miss the Euro 2012 group stage after being banned for three matches for his sending off against Montenegro.

Uefa's disciplinary panel, which described the incident as an "assault", decided on the punishment at a meeting on Thursday. The England FA are said to be considering an appeal.

Another day of international duty for Sporting KC players today. Four players had national team duty today, three of them started. The one to not start, didn't even appear for his country, as Teal Bunbury didn't make the bench again for the United States in their 1-0 loss to Ecuador tonight in New York.

Roger Espinoza put in another solid performance for Honduras going 74 minutes, but Honduras fell to the US 1-0 tonight down in Miami on a nice finish by Clint Dempsey. Sporting KC's other player involved in this game, Teal Bunbury, did not make the 18 man US roster for the game tonight. Espinoza played the role that he's made his own for Honduras as of late.

Kei Kamara and the Leone Stars pulled out a draw in South Africa against the Bafana Bafana, but the point was not enough to see them through to the African Cup of Nations. Sierra Leone needed a win and a Niger loss to qualify for the tournament for the first time since 1996, but couldn't find the net.